


Of Ferris Wheels And Ill-Advised Bets

by Alice_Writes_Stuff



Series: These Cold Vienna Nights [4]
Category: Ashes to Ashes (UK TV)
Genre: Catching a drug dealer, Christmas, Christmas market, F/M, Ferris Wheels, Galex UST, References to Drugs, So much Galex UST
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-31
Updated: 2018-12-31
Packaged: 2019-10-01 10:03:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,116
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17242241
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alice_Writes_Stuff/pseuds/Alice_Writes_Stuff
Summary: "I shouldn't be here," Alex thought as she made her way to London's first Christmas market. And for once, she wasn't just referring to the eighties dystopia she'd been trapped in for the last few months. No, she really shouldn’t be here. She should be going to the theatre, to see A Christmas Carol. That had been until she'd gotten a call from work- some nameless drug dealer or other had decided to set up shop at the market, and so, in the inimitable words of DCI Gene Hunt, they were going to “make sure that the only thing people were getting high on was the festive spirit.”





	Of Ferris Wheels And Ill-Advised Bets

**A.N- I had this idea a few weeks ago, though I hadn't planned on it taking this long to finish. Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy it all the same! The market in this fic was inspired by the Christmas market in Edinburgh, which I visited quite a few times this year. Don't forget to read and review, and as usual I own nothing!**

_I shouldn’t be here_ , Alex thought as she made her way to London's first Christmas market. And for once, she wasn't just referring to the eighties dystopia she'd been trapped in for the last few months. No, she really shouldn’t be here. She should be going to the theatre, to see A Christmas Carol. That had been until she'd gotten a call from work- some nameless drug dealer or other had decided to set up shop at the market, and so, in the inimitable words of DCI Gene Hunt, they were going to “make sure that the only thing people were getting high on was the festive spirit.”

She'd been about to leave for the theatre when she'd got the call. The good news was, she could get her ticket refunded. The bad news was, she was going to miss the play- it was sold out every other night.

“Who needs the theatre?” Gene had said, when she'd mentioned this during their phone conversation earlier. “It's not every day you get to do a drugs bust at a Christmas market, is it?” He had a point.

She found Gene near the back, standing by a stall selling Christmas baubles. Alex wasn't surprised to see that they weren't alone, nor was she surprised to see that Chris and Ray were joining them. She was, admittedly, a little surprised to see Shaz there. It was only a brief flicker of surprise, though.

“Glad you could make it, Bolly,” Gene remarked, before pulling a picture from his pocket. “This is Derek Green, our dealer. He was here last night, and now our job is to make sure we shut him down before he can stay any longer.” He studied each of them for a moment, and Alex took the opportunity to do the same.

When she'd first left the house, she'd felt just a little bit self-conscious. In her full, ankle-length skirt, with its pattern of purple flowers, and a jumper of the same colour, she was not exactly dressed for a drugs bust. But, as it turned out, neither were the others. Ray and Chris looked relatively normal- apart from the fact that Ray was wearing a ridiculous Christmas jumper, and Chris had traded his usual black jacket for something a bit warmer-looking. Shaz, on the other hand, had gone just a tiny bit further to embrace the Christmas spirit. She was wearing a green dress, with a layered skirt and a silver belt. Combined with brown boots and a gold beret, she looked a little bit like a Christmas tree. It really shouldn't work, but somehow it did. Gene stood out among the five of them, a true contradiction as always, with everything from his hair to his ridiculous boots spelling business as usual.

“I reckon we should split up. Bolly, you're with me. Festive Three, have a look around. Talk to people, see if they've 'eard anything. We'll meet at the hot chocolate stall later, chase up any leads and go from there. Alright?” They all nodded. “Right then, let's go. If you find anything, give us a shout.” Ray, Chris and Shaz turned to go. “Wait, one more thing.” They turned back around. “We're here on business, not to muck about. If you wanna go shopping or whatever, you do that on your own time, is that understood?”

“Yes, Guv,” they said, almost in unison, and left.

“Right then, Bolly. Let's get cracking.” Alex nodded, following Gene through the crowded market. Though before long, they were walking side by side. After a minute or two, she felt Gene's fingers brush against her own. “I'm gonna reach for your hand, Bolls. Try not to faint from excitement.” Alex rolled her eyes, but didn't protest.

“Don't flatter yourself, Guv.” Everything was going perfectly well at first. Then it occurred to her, that this was the first time they had really touched- consciously, deliberately touched- since… well, since that night in November. And now that she was thinking about that… She shook her head, quickly, trying to chase the memory from her head, and instead sending her curly hair flying in Gene's face.

“Bloody hell, I think I'd have preferred the fainting,” Gene muttered. Alex just sighed.

“Why are we even doing this in the first place?” she asked.

“We're undercover, Bolly.” Well, that explained absolutely nothing. “I thought that if we looked like we were out on a date or something, we'd blend in a bit easier.”

“And you couldn't have just ran this past me beforehand?” Then again, up until half an hour ago, she'd had other plans, so he'd probably come up with this idea on the spot. In a strange way, though, it worked quite well. She was wearing a long white coat today, in lieu of her usual leather jacket, and she had to admit, it complimented Gene's black coat rather nicely. You could be forgiven for thinking they were a couple, if you were just looking from the outside.

“I didn't really have time, did I?” Alex smiled, but didn't respond. By now, she'd worked out where they were going- to the Ferris Wheel. She shot Gene a confused look. “Apparently you can see the whole market from up there. I know it looks like a long shot, but at least it's a start, eh?” He wasn't technically wrong, which meant that technically Alex had no business correcting him. Still…

“Have you actually got a plan, or are you just making all of this up as you go along?”

“You make that sound like a bad thing.” By now, they'd reached the ticket booth, and joined the queue. It wasn't particularly long, and in a few minutes they had reached the front. Gene paid for their tickets, and it was all Alex could do not to say something about that. Instead, she made a mental note to pay him back the money when they were alone- either that, or buy him a drink at Luigi's at some point. Now that could turn a few tables.

Once they'd got their tickets, they had to wait a few more minutes in the line for the actual ride. Alex tried to take this opportunity to look for the others, but she couldn't spot them. She turned back to the line, and was pleased to see that it was considerably shorter now.

Finally, they got to the wheel. The little capsules were sealed, like on the London Eye, though this Ferris Wheel was nowhere near as big. They sat opposite each other, and were silent as they started to slowly ascend.

“I reckon we've got three rotations. We should be stopping at the top at least once, and that should give us a chance to have a look around.” Alex nodded.

It wasn't until they were about halfway back down, however, that they stopped. She shivered- she hadn't expected it to be so cold in here.

“D'you wanna come sit over here?” Gene asked. Alex stared at him for a moment, trying to work out whether or not he was being serious. “You don't have to, mind- I just thought I'd offer.”

Alex wasn't sure why she did it, but before she could really think better of it, she was on her feet, carefully shuffling round so that she was sitting next to Gene. They weren't sitting particularly close together, nor were they touching, but that didn't stop the scenario from bringing back old memories, of vaults and kitchens and drinking at Luigi's. The fact that they were in such a small, enclosed space really didn't help.

The ride had just started to move again when Alex, acting completely impulsively, closed the space between them with a kiss. She pulled away, and almost wished she hadn't. In that moment, she didn't care whether or not any of this was real. She didn't care whether it was all in her head. She never wanted to see that look of confusion, longing and frustration that was in Gene's eyes ever again.

She was about to get up and go back to her own seat, when Gene reached out and grabbed her arm. Now, she probably could've gotten out of his grip easily enough, but instead, she turned to look at him, and when he leaned in to kiss her again, she leaned in too.

They really shouldn't be doing this, for a hundred reasons, and Alex knew perfectly well that she should put a stop to it. Which was why, when the ride stopped for the second time- about a quarter of the way through their second rotation- she pulled away. This time, when she went back to sit on her side of the capsule, Gene didn't stop her.

At first, she didn't say anything. Instead, she crossed her ankles, spread her skirt out a bit and clasped her hands together, the picture of propriety. Only her smudged lipstick and rumpled hair served as a betrayal of what she'd been doing.

“I thought we weren't gonna do anything like that again,” Gene said, breaking the silence.

“I know, and I'm sorry.” He sighed.

“You know, you could save yourself a lot of grief if you just… stopped trying to act like there's nothing here. I'm not saying we have to be like Chris and Shaz, holding hands at every opportunity, but it seems a bit daft not to do something about whatever this is.”

Alex didn't know what to say. By this point, the ride had started to move again, guiding them slowly buy surely towards their third and final rotation. Gene was right, whether she liked it or not. One way or another, they couldn't keep doing this. That being said, she couldn't really see a scenario where they could both win. It was possible that they could try some kind of friends-with-benefits arrangement, but that was a bit of a slippery slope. And it could become a distraction, which was the last thing she needed. Then again, acting like nothing had happened and carrying on as normal clearly wasn't working either.

“You're right. The thing is, I never planned on being here this long, and I certainly never planned on anything like this happening. I don't know how much longer I'll be here, and I don't want to start something I can't finish. That being said, there is clearly something here, and trying to ignore it hasn't had any success so far. So, perhaps there's some kind of arrangement we could come to, some compromise where we're addressing whatever this is, but it's also not too serious.” Gene opened his mouth to reply, but then the ride came to a stop again. This time, they were right at the top.

“We should probably have a look around,” he said, taking a pair of binoculars from his bag. “Though we'll continue this conversation later.” Alex nodded, and turned her attention to the crowded street below. The market had been split into two halves. There was the row of stalls, with the Ferris Wheel halfway down it, and beside that was a small fairground, with a carousel, bumper cars and even a small rollercoaster. It was here that Gene spotted their dealer, standing next to the carousel. He passed Alex his radio.

“Is anyone there?” At first, there was no response.

“I'm here, ma'am,” Shaz replied, after a minute. “Have you found anything?”

“Yes, we have a location. Could you meet us at the hot chocolate stall in five minutes?”

“I'm already there, ma'am.”

“Excellent.” She switched the radio off then, and the ride started to descend for the third and final time.

By the time they'd reached the ground and climbed out of their capsule, Alex looked a little more normal. She'd spent most of their journey down making sure of that, and she was confident she'd done well. Still, only time would tell.

They found Shaz over by the hot chocolate stall. She had just finished paying for two cups. Chris and Ray were nowhere to be seen.

“Where are they?” Gene asked, and Shaz pointed at one of the rides. It only just looked safe- a bunch of seats suspended from what looked like a while, which spun around rapidly while it ascended a very tall tower. “And what are they doing there?” he asked, as they shoved their way through the crowds towards the ride.

“Well, Ray bet Chris that he couldn't go on that thing without being sick. Chris said he'd do it, but only if Ray went on it too. And I've been getting hot chocolate and questioning my life choices.”

“You know, somewhere out there, there's a circus that's missing two of its monkeys,” he muttered. Finally, they reached the ride. Chris was standing in front of it, though he wasn't in the queue. They walked up to him. “Christopher,” Gene said. “Would you care to explain what's going on here?”

“Apart from the fact I'm about to be ten quid richer, not much.” Shaz smiled, and went to hand him one of the cups of hot chocolate she'd been carrying. Before he could take it, though, Gene intercepted.

“You can 'ave this back when you can explain why you and Ray decided to not only waste your time on a fairground ride, but to place bets on each other as well.”

“I haven't really got an explanation, Guv. It just looked like fun, and we didn't think it would take that long. Besides, you never said we couldn't go on the rides.”

“Because I didn't think that needed to be said! If I'd thought I'd seriously need to remind coppers I've been working with for nearly ten years not to go on a bloody fairground ride, I would've, but I was under the impression that you could work that one out for yourselves!” With a heavy sigh, he handed Chris his hot chocolate. “Did either of you get any information, at least?

“The woman who was working the hot chocolate stall reckoned she'd seen Green, heading for the fairground area,” Shaz said.

“That matches up with what we saw from the Ferris Wheel,” Alex observed.

“Hang about, hang about. So, it's alright for you two to go on the rides, but when we do it, we're wasting time?”

“We only went on the wheel because it let us see the whole market, and it was our best chance of spotting Green,” she pointed out.

“He's got a point, though, Bolly.” Gene said, before turning to Chris. “Tell you what, if you were able to get anything useful during your little detour, I won't mention it again. Sound fair?” Chris nodded.

“Alright. Now, I might be wrong, but I'm pretty sure I met one of our dealer's customers when I was in the queue.”

“How could you tell?”

“Well, Guv, unless he was wearing pot perfume, I think it's safe to say he'd had a joint or two. He stunk of the stuff.” That seemed enough for Gene, but Alex wasn't so sure.

“I'm not denying what you saw, but your evidence is circumstantial. He could've been high when he got here, he could've brought the drugs from home, or he could've gotten them from somebody else. How can you be sure that he got them from Green?”

“I asked him where he'd got the pot from- he was too stoned to question why I was asking- and he said that some bloke sold it to him. Said he'd been selling it near the rollercoaster.” He paused. “Or it might have been the carousel.”

“Those are two very different things, Chris,” Shaz pointed out.

“Well, he was high as a blooming kite! And he had a thick accent. Honestly, the fact I could make out anything he was saying was a miracle.” By this point, the ride had reached the ground. Ray came staggering off it and joined them, a hand clamped over his mouth.

“That is the last time I let you tell me to do anything,” he said, glaring at Chris.

“So, does this mean I get my tenner?” Ray just pulled out his wallet, and handed him a ten-pound note.

“I'd give you a hundred bloody tenners if it means I never have to do that again.” At that point, Gene cut in.

“Now that you've come back to earth, Raymondo, let's get going. We've still got a dealer to bag, after all.”

Were it not for the crowds, they would probably have ran to the fairground. As it was, they had to settle for a brisk walk. Which was probably just as well, since Alex was wearing her high-heeled boots, Chris and Shaz still had half-full cups of hot chocolate, and Ray looked like he may be about to be sick.

Considering how long it had taken them to get here, Alex had almost thought that Green would've left by the time they got there. Fortunately, though, he was still there, standing by the carousel.

In that moment, they all snapped into police-mode, even Ray. The fairground wasn't quite as crowded as the market, though it wasn't far off. While Gene approached Green, the others worked on crowd control.

“Everyone, stay back! We're the police!” Alex shouted, wishing that they looked a bit more official, and less like everybody else. Nevertheless, the crowd did move back, and Gene was able to make the arrest.

“Derek Green, you're arrested for drug dealing and for jeopardising everyone's Christmas.” He clamped the handcuffs round Green's wrists, and led him away, the others following.

“Thank you for your co-operation, everybody,” Alex called back to the crowd as they left.

“And merry Christmas!” Shaz added, which made Alex smile.

Later, after they'd processed Green's arrest and put him in a holding cell, they all went across to Luigi's to celebrate. But as Alex slowly got drunk on mulled wine, she caught Gene's eye from across the table. One thing was for sure, they weren't done yet. They still needed to finish their conversation, and while that probably wouldn't happen right now, she knew it would need to happen eventually. In the meantime, though, she drank the rest of her wine, filled up another glass, and allowed herself to enjoy the rest of the evening with her friends.


End file.
